I recently had the terrifying experience of being a guest on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." I put stage fright aside because Stephen Colbert, one of the sharpest wits in comedy, was dealing with a serious issue -- attempts in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere to strip public workers of any input or voice in what they do, how they do it and what they earn.
Colbert unmasked the absurdity of these efforts with questions such as "Why should union members get something good because they organized and fought for it, if other people don't have it?"
"I know that a rising tide raises all boats," he continued. "But when the tide goes out, I want to make sure I drag you down with me. Shouldn't everybody live a [terrible] life?"
Unions provide working people -- from teachers to steelworkers, nurses, janitors and firefighters -- with a vehicle to raise their standard of living and to press for the conditions they need to do their jobs well. Even though public employees didn't cause state fiscal crises, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and some other elected officials claim unconvincingly that they need to eliminate collective bargaining in order to "gain flexibility" and "repair budgets." But Americans aren't buying it, and polling shows that, two to one, the public opposes efforts to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights. Yet Walker has consistently rejected all offers to work with Wisconsin's public employee unions, which already have agreed to substantial cuts in their pensions and health benefits -- cuts that will hurt their families.
Collective bargaining is a vehicle to improve services -- whether in education or other areas -- and it would hurt both workers and those they serve if that important right was lost.
For example, I recently proposed a way to strengthen teaching, by aligning comprehensive teacher evaluations with systems of due process. The proposal lays out a fair and expedient process to identify, improve and -- if necessary -- remove ineffective teachers.
It starts with rigorous evaluations -- the kind that many AFT unions are negotiating with their school district counterparts through the collective bargaining process. The next step is a time-limited, but real, improvement and support plan for teachers who need help -- also developed and implemented through labor-management cooperation. The final step is a hearing or adjudication process. All of this ensures that, within a finite period of time, teachers will be evaluated regularly based on agreed-upon standards of what they should know and be able to do, will receive help if they fall short of those standards, and will be removed from the classroom fairly and efficiently if they simply aren't cutting it.
We have begun working with administrators and others to fine-tune this proposal, with the goal of implementing it in schools and school districts quickly. And the best way to do this will be through the collective bargaining process, with frontline educators and school administrators sharing responsibility for this important undertaking.
This is but one example of the improvements that have come about in our schools by giving classroom educators a voice, and a vehicle through which to strengthen teaching and learning. From adapting the school day or year to allow for more instructional time, to maintaining reasonable class size to maximize that time, to securing wraparound services that ensure students' basic needs are met -- teachers and their unions are using the collective bargaining process in ways that help kids, boost the teaching profession and promote the public good.
In the end, it's a question of what kind of country we want. Do we want a country in which individuals are powerless, and hard-working people are denied the ability to earn decent wages and benefits? Americans resoundingly say "no." Yet attacks on workers, their unions and their rights continue to spread. Unlike a Colbert monologue, denying the ability of working people to improve services and secure a better life is no laughing matter.
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Public good is just over rated
However, with the advent of federal and state labor laws, unions have become increasingly obsolete. With greed, cronyism, and corruption, unions have become more irrelevant. With their intransigence, unions have become a conduit for jobs overseas. Who do you think pays for unemployment benefits after six months? Since those benefits are unfunded, our children and grandchildren will.
Federal and state labor laws a basically to ensure human heath and safety on the job. They have nothing to do with bargaining for wages and benefits. Would you say government is obsolete because of greed, cronyism and corruption? The answer to greed, cronyism and corruption in unions is the same answer to greed, cronyism and corruption in government. Pass laws, regulate and police the the government and unions.
The conduit for jobs overseas is not union intransigence. The conduit for jobs overseas is bigger profits for multinational corporations.
This is technically NOT true because all employers pay unemployment taxes in good times and bad--so some money should be there for them when needed. The government collects this money and spends it and then cries poor when it is need to pay the benefits it was collected to pay. This is the same saga that has played out in Social Security. Oh, sorry seniors we spent all the money you and your employer sent in for Social Security because we didn't want to raise taxes to build roads or fund our wars so now you must work longer than you thought and get fewer benefits. This is also the same saga for teacher pension plans. Oh sorry teachers we have to cut back or eliminate the pension plan you paid into because instead of putting in our promised contribution we needed the money for other things because the taxpayers won't elect us if we raise taxes.
Not necessarily true. If you increase taxes on just the top 15% you are safely far above even the top of "the majority of middle-cla ss private citizens." And if you do not give unnecessary tax breaks to large corporations, like Walker did in Wisconsin, you can use the money to pay down debt owed to the pension funds. See problem solved and the "majority of middle-cla ss private citizens" comes out of it with nary a scratch.
"They need to to fight with those people and stop trying to go after the private-sector middle class taxpayer who already pays 3-4 times what they do for benefits."
I think that the "the private-sector middle class taxpayers" should all join unions and bargain so that they do not pay "3-4 times" more for their benefits. Oh, I forgot they (you) feel "it's wholy unnecessary to have collective bargaining to ensure they get paid a fair salary."
Private sector middle class taxpayers should all join unions? Great! All their jobs get shipped overseas! So much for collective bargainingÂ!
For all those public employees' who think their collective negotiatioÂn benefit is a God-given right? I have one word for you: PRIVATIZATÂION!
The children do get a pretty good education but please stop screaming that teachers are under paid. That was true 30 years ago but no longer. In the state of Illinois there are over 6000 teachers making over a $100K annually.It's public information. All you need to do is look for it.
The heck it isn't working. Those kids are in school 180 days a year. Imagine what the parents would have to pay just for day care every year if they were not. Imagine all the crime and juvenile problems for the police. Maybe it isn't working to your or some politicians satisfaction but it is working. There is an old saying "you get what you pay for." $6.5 billion may be a ton of money but maybe it is not enough to fix all the problems impoverished kids have so that they can meet expectations. Or I have a better solution. Why not try to get their parents better economic opportunities (good paying jobs),reduce poverty, improve their community services and invest in early childhood learning and day care centers. Maybe then that ton of money spent on a school system would start working?
For years I have heard "more money spent on education is not the answer." The latest talking head to spout this is college drop out Bill Gates. My response is always the same. I think you may be right! But more money needs to be spent on the social and environmental issues keeping the students from coming to school prepared to learn. This observation usually ends the conversation.
First of all you cannot compare private company unionization with public employee unionization. Union workers for private companies do not get to make contributions to managers in the hope that those managers will be their bosses. They do not get to elect the management with who they have to negotiate. And if they do what they did to the Auto companies then they force their employer into bankruptcy - which puts a natural constraint on how far a union can push a private company.
For these reasons 92% of the workers in the private sector are doing just fine without a union. They could have one if they wanted one, but do not want one.
Public sector unions are a whole different story. You collect dues, and use these dues to buy/elect politicians who cave into your demands at taxpayer expense.
We the taxpayers have had enough. We are not paying any more. We are also not putting up with incompetent teachers any more. Look at the high school graduation rates in Milwaukee.
So public employee unions need to be banned at all levels of government. Tenure for teachers needs to be eliminated. Your defined benefit pension plans need to be converted into 401K's. And you will go no paid healthcare if you retire before you are eligible for Medicare. Just like the rest of us taxpayers. Welcome to the real world.
It is a cruel system but it is reality.
I've been saying for a long time that with more machines doing the work of unskilled laborers that the supply of unskilled laborers needs to contract along with the decrease in demand.
However, since our country's simplistic representative democracy (true of most western states) seems to enjoy watching the population of those on the public dole grow faster than the rest of the population (can you say "future voters") then we have ourselves a mess.
It is a simple matter of supply and demand. Time to welcome policies that reduce the birthrate of the unskilled labor pool. Refusing to do this in the course of ever increasing robotic sophistication (and trying to maintain socialism) is going to bankrupt just about any country in the world as seems to be the case.
It is the progress of technology that is causing your reductions in real income more than any rich man's evil plans.
Teachers contribute to principals "in the hope that those managers will be their bosses?"
Policemen contribute to their captains "in the hope that those managers will be their bosses?"
Firemen contribute to their chief "in the hope that those managers will be their bosses?"
"They do not get to elect the management with who they have to negotiate."
Principals, fire chiefs or police captains are elected to negotiate contracts with any employees?
"We are also not putting up with incompetent teachers any more."
Yes and teachers are not going to put up with incompetent parents and citizens anymore!"
"Look at the high school graduation rates in Milwaukee."
Yes look at them they are twice as high as they were in 1970!
DOE reports that 60%+ of WI 8th graders can NOT read at grade level. Google "high school graduation rates for - name a major metro area. IF, that city has a good grad rate, it's NOT much better than 50%.
unions represent about 7-10% of the working public. THE OTHER 90% PAY salaries, BENEFIT and PENSIONS for that minority.
THAT IS GOOD FOR THE UNIONS BAD FOR THE REST OF US.
That 7-10% minority you cite provide essential government services like police protection, fire protection, municipal maintenance functions and they teach your children to read and write (even if it is only at the 8th grade level). I suppose you in the "OTHER 90%" want them to do it for free or less than say your lawyer, dentist, doctor, plumber, home builder, auto mechanic, congressman, mayor, ....
Face facts you want services you have to pay for them. The next time your health insurance premium is due try calling up the insurance company and telling them that as a member of the working public you think it is unfair that you have to pay the salaries of all those executives, salesmen and customer service reps. I think they will put you on speaker phone for comic relief!
The fact the author, nor the people commenting, can see the glaring difference between the two is yet another reason why public education needs to be eliminated.
Gramsci "progressives" will make every effort over the next year to game the system as much as possible then openly start their 'democracy' revolution with socialism portrayed as the answer.
You will lose.
Your talking points and spin will not change anything. Your economic ideals have failed. Conservatism does NOT work. Never has. Conservatism has drove this country into a ditch, robbed the government of vital revenue which has rendered it unable to meet its most basic obligations to its citizens leaving the government to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class while the rich point and laugh watching the middle class be pitted against each other. Your kind have stripped the country of its middle class by directing all the money to the top in the theory it would trickle down. It didn't and now you want to stomp out the last enclaves of the middle class with your manufactured war on the budget which your kind made in the first place.
I still defend the right of people to join unions and, in some circumstances, I might be willing to join one myself. But I do think some of the unions have become excessive in their demands and need to be reined in. I'm not impressed with the Wisconsin public workers or with the Democratic legislators who are really using an unethical, strong arm tactic, trying to shut down the state government because they don't have enough votes to block the governor's bill in the legislature. As Barack Obama said, "elections have consequences." In this case, unpleasant ones for the Wisconsin public unions.
For years I discounted any and all criticisms of CORPORATIONS. Then I got to the the CORPORATIONS close at hand and understood why those people had been so critical.
We have far more to fear currently from corporate corruptions, greed, and political power than from union corruption, greed and political power.
NY school system provides 1,500 teachers (paid $100,000+) to the union and the union then pays them an additional $50,000 for union 'work'. The school system then has to hire ANOTHER 1,500 substitute teachers to replace those working at the union. A drain on the school budget of about $10 million dollars.
Now WHY should the (poor) school system subsidize the (already rich) union?!?!?!? Is that really 'best' for the students?
Here in MO the union fought against teacher 'certification' but due to the accreditation failure of KC and St. Louis school systems, it was 'discovered' there were teachers (for years) that were totally unqualified to be teaching (some with NO COLLEGE degrees or certification).
Oh, how about those policemen in NJ (for example) who can retire at 41 with 80% of their highest pay for life!?!? (thank you union).
Oh, and WHY are you 'aligned' with the ISO (international socialists organization)?!?!
And how about that $8 BILLION the fed govt provides for teacher education?
It only cares about getting the most for it's members. The union eventually demoralizes (good) teachers by preventing them from being fairly rewarded and lumping them into the lowest common denominator puddle. As do ALL unions.
Employers cannot reward the best workers. In fact, union members make sure there are no 'standouts'. Look what the unions did to Detroit and to the steel industry.
How about that $8 BILLION provided to 'improve' teachers? Do we waste that kind of money on ANY other profession??!!? What about tenure?!?!? Is that available to ANY other profession!?!
Work environment?!? You only work HALF the hours of ANY other profession! You get lot's of unmentioned benefits: lower interest rates (for example). For continuing education efforts/qualifications there is more money... but few take advantage of those.
My sister, daughter and other family members are also teachers. Let me assure you there are MANY incompetent, lazy, unmotivated teachers out there, giving a bad name to the ones who really care.
Teachers don't want to be 'graded' because it would bring to light the truth about them. What other employee goes without a job performance review?!?!?!
When should the (employers) public realize that the current system is broken? When should we start to demand quality teaching for our children? When can we begin to reward the quality teachers? When can the employer get what he is paying for?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/education/07winerip.html?_r=1&ref=education
There's a very simple solution that removes the inherent conflict of interest made possible by the union's electing their own boss.
Put union contracts on the referendum on election day and let the public decide.
For the public sector, the employer IS the public- shouldn't the employer have final say?
How's that working out?
As it is now, the unions can basically demand any degree of compensation they like and Democratic politicians, in order to help themselves get elected, will agree to those demands. It's corruption, pure and simple. Further, by demanding immunity for union members from being dismissed for poor performance, the unions guarantee poor performance, thus further cheating the taxpayers.
Unions don't give 'immunity" that prevents bad teachers' dismissals. They ensure that DUE PROCESS is followed before a teacher is nixed. Also, there are SBO schools in NYC where teachers aren't hired by seniority (google it if you aren't familiar with the term), and those schools have the UFT's support. Finally, the day the texpayers get to say where their tax dollars go is the day I stop MY tax money from supporting wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the undeclared one in Pakistan.